| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Brimstone |
Posted - 05 Apr 2010 : 09:58:56
The Mark of Nerath
Interesting. Is he any good as an Author? I will probably check it out. I wonder if the Points of Light World will get fleshed out now? |
| 18 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Kno |
Posted - 19 Apr 2010 : 18:59:01
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Also I'm not sure I'd agree there's "plenty" of non-shared world fantasy that's "better than anything ever written for the shared worlds." I've read a helluva lot of fantasy, and I still rank Paul Kemp's Erevis Cale series up there in my top five or ten.
Cheers
I did not care for the Erevis Cale novels and was surprised with all the praise they received. There are a few that I would consider for maybe not top fifty but close, some of the works of Grubb and recently Mark S. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 18 Apr 2010 : 23:56:19
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
quote:
Originally posted by Kno
I agree there are plenty of non-shared world fantasy that's better than anything ever written for the shared worlds. I meant that the current D&D designers can't create a decent generic world from decades of material and now they want to write novels about it.
Well, I'm going to try not to take that personally, seeing as I am one of the current D&D designers (albeit a freelancer, like Brian R. James, Matt James, lots of others who I esteem quite highly).
Also I'm not sure I'd agree there's "plenty" of non-shared world fantasy that's "better than anything ever written for the shared worlds." I've read a helluva lot of fantasy, and I still rank Paul Kemp's Erevis Cale series up there in my top five or ten.
Cheers
I think he's referring to actual WotC staff, not freelancers.  |
| Erik Scott de Bie |
Posted - 18 Apr 2010 : 22:57:28
quote:
Originally posted by Kno
I agree there are plenty of non-shared world fantasy that's better than anything ever written for the shared worlds. I meant that the current D&D designers can't create a decent generic world from decades of material and now they want to write novels about it.
Well, I'm going to try not to take that personally, seeing as I am one of the current D&D designers (albeit a freelancer, like Brian R. James, Matt James, lots of others who I esteem quite highly).
Also I'm not sure I'd agree there's "plenty" of non-shared world fantasy that's "better than anything ever written for the shared worlds." I've read a helluva lot of fantasy, and I still rank Paul Kemp's Erevis Cale series up there in my top five or ten.
Cheers |
| Kno |
Posted - 17 Apr 2010 : 10:33:16
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I'd not write off a fantasy novel (pun not intended) just because it's not a shared world. There are some really good books out there that are not in shared worlds, and that portion of the fantasy genre holds a larger portion of the market than the shared world side does.
I agree there are plenty of non-shared world fantasy that's better than anything ever written for the shared worlds. I meant that the current D&D designers can't create a decent generic world from decades of material and now they want to write novels about it.
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Also, the term "well thought out" is an ambiguous term. I've heard a well-known and popular fantasy author dismiss the Realms as poorly put together and nonsensical, and basically what inspired him to write fantasy himself (so as to get it right).
I will say that I can't think of a single fantasy setting that is *as* detailed as the Realms. I mean, George R.R. Martin is only one man with one mind--not hundreds of people who've been working for thirty years on a setting that was already sufficiently constructed for an entire fantasy series (when Ed originally created it).
I wonder who this author is. The Realms is just a bunch of stories and it works for me cause I can imagine the connections between them.
From what I've read only the Malaz world comes close in epicness.
|
| Diffan |
Posted - 15 Apr 2010 : 02:31:11
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Eh, WoT is definitely a contender. I do think the Realms has been around longer and had more minds contributing to it. Don't get me wrong, Jordan pulled off something really remarkable, but his setting was limited in its scope to following one major story, rather than a thousand separate stories.
(It's like how FR varies from Dragonlance, which basically revolves around a singular epic quest.)
True, and it's still one of the main reasons I've stuck with the Realms for so long. The feeling of it being so vast and not connected through one major story plot is what makes it more real to me as a setting.
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
What I do think is that a fair analogy can be drawn between the Realms and the WoT setting--they both achieve the "detailed other world" criterion splendidly.
Cheers
Yea, this is what I was getting at. The books really do paint a splendid picture of the world, the people, and the varying cultures. Each culture has their own specific thoughts and feelings towards magic that people use and they vary from slavery of the Seanchan to the haughty-ness of the Aes Sedai. I really wish they had expanded more on that setting with more RPG products. Oh well.....now time for Pathfinder/4E conversions  |
| Faraer |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 18:51:00
I find that blurb's 'only heroes in a world of darkness able to save the world from darkness' thing a really obnoxious, narrow, unpleasant paranoid sadomasochistic antisocial fantasy -- like the parodied but continually popular 'One man . . .' narration in movie trailers. (On both a heroic and literary level the necessary and interesting thing to do in a ruined world would be to see what kind of civilization you can help remake.)
Though of course, if the book is indeed that way, better have it there than imposed on another's literary world. |
| Patrakis |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 17:50:13
I would be inclined to say that the World of Harn is older than the realms and (in publication i mean) and is one detailed setting. Not the ol planet though,i'll grant you that.
It's not very mainstream though so it may not qualify.
Pat |
| Ashe Ravenheart |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 16:12:23
I recall reading somewhere (I *think* it was in the Wheel of Time RPG) that Jordan DM'd his kids through Rand's world at some point too, but I don't remember the details. |
| Erik Scott de Bie |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 15:53:43
Eh, WoT is definitely a contender. I do think the Realms has been around longer and had more minds contributing to it. Don't get me wrong, Jordan pulled off something really remarkable, but his setting was limited in its scope to following one major story, rather than a thousand separate stories.
(It's like how FR varies from Dragonlance, which basically revolves around a singular epic quest.)
What I do think is that a fair analogy can be drawn between the Realms and the WoT setting--they both achieve the "detailed other world" criterion splendidly.
Cheers |
| Diffan |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 14:53:53
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
I will say that I can't think of a single fantasy setting that is *as* detailed as the Realms.
The only one that comes to my mind besides the Realms is Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series/world. It's pretty damn detailed and that's without the 30+ years of included gaming history that the Realms has . |
| Erik Scott de Bie |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 06:09:14
quote:
Originally posted by Kno
When your read a novel from the FR-line there's at least a well thought out world in the background, I wonder if this will be the worst fantasy ever.
Oh, you'd have to be hugely talented to write something worse than some of the fantasy novels I've read.
Also, way to bust out the *reverse* shared world prejudice. That's awesome.
And to clarify, what I mean by "shared world prejudice" is critics' popular tendency to dismiss shared world fiction as schlock on the basis of it being shared world, and thus it must be schlock. (A circular argument, in fact.)
Also, the term "well thought out" is an ambiguous term. I've heard a well-known and popular fantasy author dismiss the Realms as poorly put together and nonsensical, and basically what inspired him to write fantasy himself (so as to get it right).
I will say that I can't think of a single fantasy setting that is *as* detailed as the Realms. I mean, George R.R. Martin is only one man with one mind--not hundreds of people who've been working for thirty years on a setting that was already sufficiently constructed for an entire fantasy series (when Ed originally created it).
Cheers |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 04:57:33
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Heck, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman -- known to many here as the authors of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Legends, Lost Chronicles, and War of Souls trilogies -- have written at least three or four series that are set in their own dreamed up worlds.
Or "Dragonships of Vindras," which is very quickly becoming another personal favourite.
I've not read those books yet, so I'd not included them. I was thinking of the Darksword, Rose of the Prophet, and Death Gate Cycle series. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 04:10:31
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Heck, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman -- known to many here as the authors of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Legends, Lost Chronicles, and War of Souls trilogies -- have written at least three or four series that are set in their own dreamed up worlds.
Or "Dragonships of Vindras," which is very quickly becoming another personal favourite. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 03:51:09
quote:
Originally posted by Kno
When your read a novel from the FR-line there's at least a well thought out world in the background, I wonder if this will be the worst fantasy ever.
I'd not write off a fantasy novel (pun not intended) just because it's not a shared world. There are some really good books out there that are not in shared worlds, and that portion of the fantasy genre holds a larger portion of the market than the shared world side does.
Heck, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman -- known to many here as the authors of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Legends, Lost Chronicles, and War of Souls trilogies -- have written at least three or four series that are set in their own dreamed up worlds. One of those trilogies, the Darksword Trilogy, has quite a large number of fans -- and there's a passing reference to it in the end of the Legends trilogy.
And back in the day, TSR did toss out a few novels that weren't in shared worlds. One of them is a goofy sci-fi novel that remains among my favorites: Illegal Aliens. |
| MerrikCale |
Posted - 14 Apr 2010 : 03:17:19
i may try it maybe |
| Kno |
Posted - 13 Apr 2010 : 20:14:41
When your read a novel from the FR-line there's at least a well thought out world in the background, I wonder if this will be the worst fantasy ever. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 13 Apr 2010 : 16:32:46
quote:
Originally posted by Brimstone
The Mark of Nerath
Interesting. Is he any good as an Author? I will probably check it out. I wonder if the Points of Light World will get fleshed out now?
That's something I'd like to see. I actually use the core-setting as a part of my homebrew and It'd be nice to see a bigger map than the Nentir(sp?) vale that's currently in the DMG. Besides, I'm curious how they'll incorporate the mechanics of the game into descriptions in a novel. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 05 Apr 2010 : 10:45:51
Bill Slavicsek?
I've never read any of his fiction, but I've always been a fan of his gaming material for the old DARK SUN setting, the d20 Modern RPG and the SWRPG.
He contributed to the PLANESCAPE and STAR*DRIVE lines too, as I recall. Good stuff. |
